Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Its taken me a couple of days to come back down to Earth after a weekend filled with so much energy and excitement.

The Lose set modest goals in this our first ever Lemons race. Keep in mind this is the first wheel-to-wheel racing any of us have done.Going into the weekend, our primary goals were the following:1: Get everyone some seat time in the car2: Don't wreck/blow the car3: Have fun

Anything beyond those three was just a bonus. We only had one minor mechanical glitch (which ended up costing us a couple of hours and probably ~50 laps) which put us in 64th place. Apparently the previous owner had taken the valve covers off at some point, and in reinstalling them over-torqued the bolts. After a few temperature fluctuations they both cracked. This caused oil to seep out onto the exhaust during high-G cornering, and billowed blue smoke after each turn. We nursed it through the rest of Day 1, applied some JB-Weld overnight, and it held together for the rest of the weekend.

The rest of the car felt fantastic, if a bit soft at times. We have some budget room and some parts to sell before the next race, and we're hoping that will allow us enough cash to get some proper suspension components on there.

Thanks to everyone who came out to Willows and endured the weather, and to everyone following along at home. See you at the next race!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Mon capitán rightly points out that we've been off the bloggy radar far too long. Please permit me to explain.

The Mustag spent the fall waiting for its shiftless keepers, a thirdof the team, to find jobs and relocate. We ultimately kept our nosesabove the rising tide of unemployment - but only to pour all thatmoney into Exhibit A for Detroit's bailout case.

Finally. Finally, in late November, Esposto got to shove the bane ofproperty values everywhere out of his garage and down the open road toits new base in Alameda, CA. OK, Bay Farm Island. Whatever. Shut up.Work resumed immediately or sometime thereafter, with the kind ofenthusiasm that can only be stoked by a looming deadline coupled withrising expectations.

The expectations? Good God, man. We made Jalopnik. And how? On the strength of WST's opus and Beau's paint job. Meaning the spotlight was now upon the 6 actual, driving team members based on nomerits of our own. Drats.

Having something to prove, four of us took our egos to the FirstAnnual LeMons Scab-Enger hunt to show 'em we at least knew our wayaround a junkyard.

That backfired spectacularly. We won. We made Jalopnik again andAutofiends to boot, and we took the goddamn pole. Now we can't sitquietly in the back with our hoodies pulled down over our eyes. Wehave to lead this charge of the crap brigade. How much Phil Collins doyou have to pump out the back to go faster?

Back to the grind.

What a hilarious pun. This is what I'll be remembered for when my car explodes.

I'm fully aware that there exists only 11 days before the green flag drops and The Lose hasn't made a blog update in some time. Theres probably 3 main reasons for this.1. Warren's manifesto is a hard act to follow. Much like any musical number directly following an AC/DC concert, there's absolutely no chance the delivery of anything I might sputter could look any better than a 9 year old child's essay extolling the features of a Red Rider BB Gun. I was simply Thunderstruck.2. We're behind schedule, and its embarrassing that I'm ordering parts I vowed would have been installed and tested months ago3. We're out of time. Seriously, I don't have free time to extol on the silly antics we're up to, because its all business now. Free weekends are a distant memory. Personal project cars (continue to) rust away in the driveway. Families are preparing for an absolute lack of effort on the part of my Christmas gifts. Its been a tough 4-5 weeks. But the end is in sight. December 28th, it will be over.